More Stories Coming Out of US Tourist Deaths at Dominican Republic Resorts

Newser — Evann Gastaldo

A month before the mysterious recent deaths of three US tourists in the Dominican Republic, another US tourist died there in similar circumstances. Robert Bell Wallace, 67, of California was staying at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana when he had a scotch from the minibar in his room.

Immediately, "he started feeling very sick, he had blood in his urine and stool right afterward," his niece tells Fox News. That was April 11; on April 13, a hotel doctor decided he needed to be hospitalized, and by April 14 he was dead.

No cause of death has yet been released to the family, which says Wallace was in good health before his death. And two more stories have come out about US tourists who died in the Dominican Republic last year:

At the same Hard Rock resort, Maryland man David Harrison died in similar circumstances in July of last year.

His cause of death was found to be pulmonary edema and a heart attack, WTOP reports. "I started seeing all these other people that were dying of the same exact causes, which made me start to second guess. I no longer feel like my husband died of natural causes," his widow says.

At the Bahia Principe Resort in Punta Cana in June of last year, Pennsylvania woman Yvette Monique Sport, 51, died in her room after having a drink from the minibar.

Her cause of death was ruled to be a heart attack, but relatives tell Fox 29 they don't believe it. "It’s a complete fabrication that you could have as many people [dying] and they all have the same cookie-cutter outcome" listed as their cause of death, her sister says.

"It’s impossible."

It was also at Bahia Principe hotels that the recent three deaths occurred; a Pennsylvania woman and a Maryland couple died in their rooms in separate incidents within five days of each other last month, all at the same resort but in separate hotels.

And two non-fatal incidents from the same Bahia Principe resort are also making headlines: A New York woman says she vomited blood last October after drinking out of a 7UP bottle from her room's minibar; she believes the bottle was actually filled with bleach, per CBS New York.

And a Colorado couple says they became violently ill while staying at the resort in June 2018, CNN reports; they believe they were exposed to insecticides via the air conditioning system.